Romaro Scott wins Silver Pen Award for December
Published:Sunday | March 13, 2016 | 12:00 AMJason Cross
Romaro Scott's letter to the editor, which called for Westmoreland Central Member of Parliament Dwayne Vaz to be flagged after displaying unethical behaviour on a political platform last year, has won him the prestigious Gleaner Silver Pen Award for December.
"There was an incident in Montego Bay. Apparently, he (Vaz) got some information that there was an incident at a shop - a fire - and he was casting aspersions on persons, really not knowing what had happened," Scott recounted to The Gleaner.
"So what he did was, use the stage of a People's National Party's (PNP) rally, and he seemed to appeal or start to incite retaliation."
Following the blaze, Vaz took to the stage of the PNP rally to push the lyrics of a violent Vybz Kartel song, Weh dem Feel Like.
"The title [of the letter to the editor] was 'Flag Dwayne Vaz for reckless behaviour'. Essentially, what it was about is behaviour during a political campaign. I expect politicians to behave in a certain way [during a] campaign, irrespective of the circumstances. Sometimes, you know - based on our culture; it's a vibrant political culture - there are times when things get heated, but as a politician, you have to have some temperament."
UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT
Scott believes Vaz's actions were not reflective of the type of politics that Jamaica wants and described the incident as unfortunate.
"Dwayne Vaz is supposed to be an upstanding citizen. He is supposed to be one who represents positivity, one who people can look up to. He has assumed that high political office of being a member of parliament, and with that comes a certain [level of] responsibility," Scott said.
He continued: "It was inappropriate. The result could have been very deadly. We will recall the 1980 election. It was a very bloody election and Jamaica doesn't need to go back there."
Scott strongly feels that persons could have, giving the circumstances of what had happened, been easily motivated to retaliate lethally.
"People ... [could have taken] a cue from the song that he chose ... ," Scott said.
This type of behaviour, he maintained, is unacceptable on any political platform and should at all times be condemned.